The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt 22: Can You See Me Now?

 

November 10, 2024      NOTES NOT EDITED
The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt22 “Can you see ME now?”
Mark 8:22-30

SIS – Most people with perfectly good eyesight fail to see the true identity of Jesus 

The human eye (and by extension, eyesight) is one of the most complicated and intricate of all human abilities.

So, intricate and complicated is the human eye, and human sight, that any person of reason would consider it “absurd” to say it developed as the result of “natural processes in nature.”  In fact, let me quote to you from one of the most, if not the most, influential scientists of the last two centuries.  Here’s what this scientist says about the “eye” in his own words:  (From the Origin of Species, CHAPTER VI - DIFFICULTIES OF THE THEORY--"Organs of extreme Perfection and Complication.”)

To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.

Did you get those words, “absurd in the highest degree.”  This was from a scientist in the 19^th century. Since that time, scientists have discovered that the human eye is much more perfect and complicated than any previous generation of scientists could imagine. 

That quote is from the influential scientist, Charles Darwin.  The quote is from his world-changing book:  Origin of the Species.

In fairness, if you read a few lines after this quote by Darwin, Darwin concludes by saying in affect, “it is absurd to the highest degree . . . but, it could happen?” Most conclude: “Absurd, but we believe it anyway!”

Sight is simply amazing.  I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to be blind—to have the need of being led around by others; to never see the eyes of your beloved; or never be able to see the smile on your little granddaughters face when she spies you at a distance; to never see the beauty of the sunset, or gaze into the mystery of a starlit night.  Being blind would be unimaginably horrible to me.

There was a particular blindness in that day that caused a sticky discharge from the eyes.  The blind person constantly had flies lighting on the eyes and picking up the disease, so that blindness spread like a plague in this region.  It was absolutely horrible.

But, there is something worse than losing one’s physical sight.  One famous quote says, "The man who is most blind is the one who will not see."  Jonathan Swift of Gulliver’s Travels.

One of the most famous blind people in modern history, perhaps the most famous since the blind poet, Homer, in the classical period, was a lady by the name of Helen Keller.  She was deaf.  She could not speak.  And, she was blind.  She went on to do amazing things with her life.  She was the first blind/deaf person to graduate from college.  She became an internationally known speaker—keep in mind she could not see or hear, much less talk before Anne Sullivan, “The Miracle Worker.”  Keller did more being blind and deaf than most of us with full faculties even attempt.  Sight is remarkable, but Hellen Keller proves, “vision is the real key.”

Helen Keller had an opinion about blindness, but it isn’t what most of us would expect.  Hellen Keller once said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”

This is where we find ourselves in the study of Mark this morning.  The section title (not part of the Biblical text of course) calls this section, “Healing a Blind Man.”  I think Hellen Keller’s quote above would better sum up this section:  “Having Sight but Not Seeing.”

I myself title this message, “Can you see ME now?”  The emphasis is on the “Me,” referring to Jesus, and more particularly referring to the essence of Who Jesus is and What He came to earth to do.  When you leave here this morning, my hope is that you will see “Jesus” for Who He is and What He has done.

If you will notice carefully, this story on the Healing of the Blind Man falls strategically between Jesus’ quote of Jeremiah in verse 18, and the high profession of faith by Peter in verse29.

Mk. 8:18 Do you have eyes, and not see, and do you have ears, and not hear?  ^w And do you not remember?

……………………………………

Mk. 8:29  ²⁹ “But you,” He asked them again, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered Him, “You are the Messiah!”

Sandwiched purposely between the “question” of Jesus and the “answer” of Peter is the story of the Blind Man’s Healing.  Why? To show that Jesus could heal a blind man?  No, as they say, “He’s been there done that and has a T-shirt to prove it.” I have said again and again and again, “Every miracle has a message.”  Miracles are not performed to demonstrate the “power” of Jesus, but to reveal the “identity” of Jesus.  Again, we can go back to Mk. 2:16:

Mk 2:6  ⁶ But some of the scribes  were sitting there, thinking  to themselves:  ⁷ “Why does He speak like this? He’s blaspheming!  Who can forgive  sins  but God alone?”

So, this text is really about “Three” levels of blindness.  The first level is the one that gets most of the attention, that’s physical blindness. But, I really don’t think that the positioning of this story by the Holy Spirit in the narrative of God’s inspiration is talking about physical blindness, but spiritual blindness.

 

Look at THIS SLIDE showing how the three stories of the Feeding of the 4000, The Healing of the Blind Man, and Peter’s Statement of Faith emphasize the need for spiritual sight. [SLIDE]. The Healing of the Blind man becomes an extended metaphor about spiritual vision. There is represented, TOTAL Blindness of People Lost in Ignorance or Rebellion. Then there is the level of PARTIAL BLINDNESS where some, like the disciples, have a shallow understanding of Jesus, and finally the FEW who see Jesus as Lord and Savior and desire to know more and more about Him.

I think this section is really about “three levels of spiritual sight.” This is not to discount that the backdrop for this lesson was the literal healing of a man that was blind.  My interpretation of this passage is driven by my belief that “every miracle has a message,” and the positioning of this story between a question by Jesus and an answer by Peter.

1.  Most people are TOTALLY Blind (22-23a)

(NIV84)  ²² They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.

By “totally” blind I do not mean people who have no physical sight.  I mean they have no “spiritual vision.”

The man in our text had to be led around by others.  This is true of those who are spiritually blind—they will be led around by someone or something.  If one does not “see the spiritual truth” of God as evidenced all around us, then one will most certainly fall in with any of many different kinds of errors.

Even atheists are led by some “view of ultimate” reality.  Often, atheists are led by a false trust and complete surrender to “scientism”—the belief that science holds the ultimate key to understanding.

Some people are led around by false teachers of many persuasions.  Some are being led by the leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Watchtower Society. They are completely blinded to the truth.  Some are led around by the false prophets of Mormonism. Still others follow the misguided gurus of Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism,  Sikhism, or Islam.  Many who are spiritually blind in the world are being led by Voodoo Priests, or animistic Shamans. Many others blindly and religiously follow political ideologies like Communism or Progressive Liberalism.

Without the light of the Holy Spirit illuminating one’s soul, a person is forced into total blindness.  It’s not only that they do not “want” to see, it is that without the Holy Spirit, they “cannot” see.  The word of God says:

1Cor. 2:14 ¹⁴ But the unbeliever  does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated  spiritually.

Eph 2:2  2 And you were dead  in your trespasses and sins ² in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world,

We’ll come back to this idea in a minute.  For now, look at this blind man.  He is totally in the dark.  He is utterly dependent upon others to even get from one place to another.

The “miracle” deals with the blind man’s physical condition.  The “message” deals with mankind’s spiritual condition.  Mankind without the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit working within stumbles in “total” spiritual blindness. 

The result of being “totally blind spiritually” are devastating.  On November 30, 1991 fierce winds from a freakish dust storm triggered a massive freeway pileup along Interstate 5 near Coalinga, California. At least 14 people died and dozens more were injured as topsoil whipped by 50 mile-per-hour winds reduced visibility to zero. But, people kept driving. That afternoon holocaust left a three-mile trail of twisted and burning vehicles, some stacked on top of one another 100 yards off the side of the freeway. Unable to see their way, dozens of motorists drove blindly ahead into disaster. (Today in the Word, August 16, 1992.) Many people today are blindly headed for certain destruction.

It doesn’t matter whether one is a pagan or a practicing Catholic, whether one is following an Eastern guru, or following no particular faith at all – without the indwelling Holy Spirit, a person is “totally” blind and the path before him or her holds nothing but death and disaster.

The man’s state of total blindness represents a man (or woman) that has never experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

Next, we examine in our text another level of blindness

2.  Many in our world are PARTIALLY Blind (23-24)

²³ He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. Spitting  on his eyes and laying His hands on  him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ He looked up and said, “I see people—they look to me like trees walking.”

Now, turn your attention to the strange process by which Jesus goes about healing this man.  This is the only miracle recorded in which Jesus healed a man in stages.  This makes perfect sense if the emphasis is on the “message” not the “miracle.” 

Obviously, I think one must conclude that the disciple represent, “believing followers” of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They knew Him.  They had faithfully now followed him through a year of inauguration and popularity and through a year of hostility and opposition.  They had experienced the love and teaching of the Lord for two years or so. 

The disciples were believers, but they were not mature.  Like the blind man’s first stage of healing allowed him to see blurry images, so too many Christians see God’s will and way for them as a blurry image.  The man could see, but he could not function effectively.

It is not enough to make a “convert,” the Scriptures tell us to make disciples.  A disciple is not someone that only has “heaven as a goal,” but also has heaven in the “soul.”  The key is not just “birthing babies” but raising children to become mature, effective, ambassadors for Christ.

Paul exhorts the Hebrews: 6:1 Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity,

He chided the Corinthians (1Cor. 3:1-2)

Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.  ² I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. 

The Word every teaches what is summed up: “Go on to maturity. Become holy even as God is holy.”

There are many partially blind Christians in church—including our church.

Remember Mr. MaGoo, the bumbling old gent of cartoon fame that was nearly blind.  He got himself into all kinds of trouble.  Like the time he befriended a friendly kitty only to find out later it was a skunk!  There are too many Christians with the “faulty eyesight” of Mr. MaGoo. Only by the grace of God do they avoid catastrophe.

There’s a third level of sight in this passage:

3.  A FEW see clearly (25-29)

Here’s the destination I believe Mark has been heading since the beginning of His gospel.  This is the “pinnacle” of the mountain we have been climbing for 8 chapters.  It is indeed, the “summit” all Biblical teaching. 

²⁷ Jesus  went out with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸ They answered Him, “John the Baptist;  others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ “But you,” He asked them again, “who do you say that I am?” Peter  answered Him, “You are the Messiah!” ³⁰ And He strictly warned  them to tell no one about Him.

Up to this point, the crowds, including the disciples, had witnessed numerous (too many to count) miracles.  The possessed were set free.  The paralytic were made whole.  The dead were raised.  Mark is a gospel full of miracles. But, miracles are never ends in themselves. The crowds were “thrilled” by the miracles of Jesus, but not “filled” with the Spirit of Jesus. They saw with their eyes, heard with their ears but did not understand in their hearts Who Jesus really was . . . until Peter’s confession!

verse 29:  “You are the Messiah!” (or Christ)

Peter’s Confession:  this is the first time in Mark’s Gospel that a human makes this identification.  Twice before Jesus was identified as “God,” or the “God-man” (Messiah).  The first time God, the Father, declared it (1:11).  Several other times, demons declared it (1:24, 34, 3:11, 5:7).

In Mark 8:18 we have the question from the Lord, “Do you have eyes, and do not see, and do you have ears and not hear.”  Eyes and ears to see and hear what?

“to see the miracles and hear the message:
Jesus is the Messiah, the God-man, the Lord Almighty! 

Those who are totally blind do not see Who Jesus is—indeed, they cannot see Who He is.  Those who are partially blind see enough to follow Jesus, but not move on to maturity; but those who receive the Holy Spirit are the FEW who see clearly Who Jesus is and follow Him with full devotion.

Matthew 7:14  ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

Those few are the ones who hear the message and receive the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph 1:13-14)

¹³ When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  ¹⁴ He is the down payment  of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession,  to the praise of His glory.

One cannot understand with any fullness who Jesus is until they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Early I pointed out from 1Cor 2:14 that people without the Holy Spirit of God are totally blind and incapable of understanding anything beyond what the conscience declares:  we are all sinners and guilty of rebellion against God.  Paul calls this “being dead in sin.”

To understand anything more than that we are in rebellion against God, the Creator, requires a filling of the Holy Spirit that comes at the moment of salvation.

At that moment, the scales of rebellion that blind us to the identity of Who Jesus is and What He has done for us, fall from our eyes and we begin to see clearly what God’s path and plan for our lives really is.

Then, a faithful few follow the Bibles instruction to “keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit”(Eph 5:18) and continually and increasingly begin to see God’s path and purpose with ever-increasing clarity—and pursue it.

Blindness is a horrible affliction.  I can hardly think of something more frightening.  If you are deaf, you can still make your way through life fairly independently, though not easily.  If you are blind, like the man in our text, you are dependent upon others.  You are at constant risk of harm.  Blindness is a horrible affliction.

A stranger, out for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon, was passing a mine in Pennsylvania many years ago, and asked a child near a farmhouse why the fields were so full of mules. The child explained that these were mine mules. They worked in the mines during the week and were brought up on Sundays to keep from going blind. Remaining in darkness would cause them to go totally blind.

Not a bad reason to be in church on Sundays after spending a week in cultural darkness and moral blindness. Worship can help us keep and/or recover our spiritual sight.

Really, this sums up the essence of worship and devotion to God through Jesus Christ—worship and devotion keep our vision sharp and clear so we can follow Jesus faithfully and effectively.

The question becomes more pointed when we make it more personal:

Jesus is asking you today:  ”Can YOU! See Me Now?”

Today, indeed every day, God is calling us to come up out of the darkness of our world and let Him illuminate our lives with the light of His Word.

If we live all our lives in “spiritual darkness and moral blindness” the end of our lives will be one of harm and deprivation.  Without the light of God in our heart through the Holy Spirit Who brings to light the Truth of God’s Inspired Word, we cannot appreciate Who Jesus is and What He has done for us.  We are worse off than the blind man.

We are “spiritually blind.”

“Can you see ME Now?”
That’s the question the Lord is asking. 

I sure hope you can.